Kieschnick shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in this establishment (Mollie)

So we have some minor updates on the issue of legal threats made against Issues, Etc. Apparently a gazillion people have been emailing LCMS, Inc., upset about the bad form and waste of money involved with these legal threats.

President Kieschnick, who at the very least has been kept aware of the legal threats but not done a thing to stop them, has weighed in. Or, rather, he asked his senior assistant Rev. Jon Braunersreuther to do that for him. In an email sent to various outlets, Braunersreuther writes:

President Kieschnick has neither initiated a lawsuit against anyone connected with the radio show “Issues, Etc.,” nor has he threatened or encouraged a lawsuit or any other type of legal action. Any allegations to the contrary are simply untrue. The President of the Synod has neither the authority nor the desire to initiate legal action on behalf of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. That authority is vested solely with the Board of Directors of the Synod.

In his role as a member of the Synod’s Board of Directors, President Kieschnick is not aware of any lawsuit or threat of any lawsuit against Rev. Todd Wilken or Jeff Schwarz. By means of a copy of this email, Mr. Ron Schultz, Chief Administrative Officer of the Synod, is being requested to further respond on behalf of the Board of Directors.

President Kieschnick desires a speedy and God-pleasing resolution to matters connected with the proposed transfer of the trademark in accordance with the Board’s previous action and prays that those involved are working together to conclude the matter.

Okay, first off, it’s beyond odd that President Kieschnick would deny initiating a lawsuit. I mean, no one has accused him of initiating a lawsuit. It’s like beginning a letter by saying, “I deny that I stole that cookie.” No one accused him of any such thing.

But beyond that, I have reliable information from various people that this letter is not exactly forthright.

I know for a fact that President Kieschnick was made aware of the legal threats, for instance. So his claim that he was unaware of the threat of legal action is just not true. All members of the Board of Directors, including President Kieschnick, were, in fact, made aware that legal counsel was sending threatening letters to Todd and Jeff. What’s more, they were repeatedly made aware of that fact in multiple ways. So, again, not true.

But the letter is interesting beyond that. While I have multiple sources who contradict President Kieschnick’s claim that he’s not behind the legal threats, and while, unlike President Kieschnick, those sources have never misled me or made untrue statements on previous stories, I can’t know which side is telling the truth since it basically boils down to a “he-said, they-said” thing. But putting that aside, it is interesting that President Kieschnick was willing to admit he knew that Todd and Jeff were going to be fired before they did but he’s unwilling to even admit knowledge about these legal threats now.

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